History
In 1965, SUNY Cortland Auxiliary Services acquired five acres of land and a series of historical buildings on the west side of Raquette Lake. Known as the Antlers, this facility was constructed at the turn of the 20th century as a Raquette Lake destination resort.
| Chronological History of Antlers | |
|---|---|
| 1885 | Charles Bennett purchased Constable Point. He renamed the land as Antlers Point and started to build. |
| 1887 | The hotel Antlers opened. It accommodated 200 guests, the largest in the area at that time. Antlers, under the colonization plan, offered a main building with modern conveniences as well as wall-tents, open camps, and little cottages. Room and board was $17.50 to $25 per week. |
| 1904 | Raquette Lake Post Office had an annex located at Antlers. Mervin Lives was in charge, later replaced by Margaret Bennett. Service was discontinued Aug. 14, 1920. |
| 1909 | $500 was allotted for a road to be constructed from Antlers to the Raquette Lake Railroad Station, a two-mile span. A photo of the tennis courts, dated 1909, is in the Library of Congress. Link for Library of Congress Antlers photograph collection. Library of Congress photographs. |
| 1910 | Aug. 20, The Annual Regatta and Water Sport event to benefit St. Williams Chapel (on Long Point) took place. Entries were sent to Chas. Bennett, Esq. at the Antlers or to Robert Collier, Esq. at Bluff Point Camp. Admission tickets could be purchased at the Post Office, Antlers or the Raquette Lake Hotel for a quarter. |
| 1915 | Charles died and ownership was transferred to his sister Margaret Bennett. |
| 1920 | Margaret sold Antlers to the Cedar Island Corporation of New York for the sum of $80,000. The Antlers was used as a summer school that also provided accommodations for students' relatives. The school enrolled approximately 150 students. Mrs. Ray Phillips of the Cedar Island Camp on Fourth Lake moved the camp to Antlers where campers stayed in tents behind the main building. |
| 1922 | H. L. Dabler was commissioned by the Cedar Island Corporation to build a girls' camp on the Antlers property and a boys' camp on Woods Point. Phillips and Max Berg ran the camps. The camps are still currently run in the same locations. |
| 1925 | Phillips and Berg built and operated a nine-hole golf course on the property, appropriately called the Antlers Golf Club. It was free to Antlers guests with putting tournaments nightly. |
| 1951 | Berg and Phillips retired and sold the hotel and property to S. & I. Hotels, Inc. of New Jersey. The asking price was $125,000 for 100 acres. The property was renamed Antlers of Raquette Lake, Inc. S. & I. Hotels ran Antlers as an American plan hotel through the summer season of 1955. The golf course remained open. |
| 1956 | S. & I. Hotels, Inc. sold Antlers of Raquette Lake, Inc. The operation and use of the golf course and hotel were leased and continued to operate through the 1956 and 1957 seasons. The cost to stay at the hotel then was $10 per couple, $7.50 for a single, and $2.50 per child. |
| 1957 | Antlers was broken into parcels and sold. |
| 1958 | Donald and Mary Elizabeth Langham purchased a large share of the Antlers property. The property included the former canteen, boat livery, four terrace cottages, and the Cedar's cottage with 300 feet of shoreline. Hence, the Antlers Motel opened. |
| 1959 | Langham purchased additional land from Antlers of Raquette Lake, Inc. to build a permanent residence which he later sold to George Fuge, director of Camp Huntington at that time. |
| 1965 | Antlers Motel Property was sold to the Faculty Student Association (later to become known as Cortland Auxiliary) of the State University Teachers College at Cortland. Cortland also purchased the large main building (an original Bennett structure) from Antlers of Raquette Lake, Inc. for a total of five acres. |
| 1968 | The first alumni family camp runs with two families, the Kruetzers and the Keefers. Dr. Metcalf took the families on nature walks. |
| 2003 | After 32 years of service, Jay Cummings retires and has the dining hall dedicated in his name. Rhonda Jacobs Pitoniak '01 was hired as assistant director. |
| 2013 | Ownership of Antlers was transferred from the Auxiliary Services Corporation of SUNY Cortland to the Cortland College Foundation and leased by SUNY Cortland. |
|
2015 |
March-May, the kitchen area of the Main Lodge was renovated. Old equipment and walls removed, new finishes and equipment installed. The Main Lodge is now open independent of the rest of Antlers in late April through mid-May and the month of October. User groups during these months cook their own food. Aug. 22 a 50th Anniversary celebration of SUNY Cortland use was held. Speakers included President Erik Bitterbaum, Steve Broyles, Lisa Court, Jay Cummings, Lynne Parks Hoffman '68, Doug Pens '67, M '71 and Rob Rubendall. The celebration included honoring Lynne Parks Hoffman and her family for her gift naming the William H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education in honor of her father. |
|
2018 |
Deb Kennedy Faylo '87 was hired as assistant director. |
|
Present |
Since 1965 the Antlers has been used for coursework, alumni family and educational camps, teams and clubs. |
Contact Us
William H. Parks Family Center for Environmental and Outdoor Education
607-753-5488
outdoor.edinfo@cortland.edu